Joseph Beer
Their first collaboration, Der Prinz von Schiras, which also included the librettist Ludwig Herzer, premiered on 31 March 1934 at the Zürich Opera House and then toured extensively in Europe and South America.
Joseph Marx wrote a congratulatory letter to his former pupil, enthusiastically stating that in his first work, Beer had displayed a knowledge and mastery that "few established operetta composers possess."
It had tremendous success and within a few years was performed throughout Europe on some 40 stages (including the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, and the Teatro Fontalba in Madrid) and translated into eight languages.
After the German's captured Paris in 1940, Beer, who was enrolled in the Polish army-in-exile, tried to join up with his military unit in England, but failed to find passage from Bordeaux before the port closed.
Postcards written under false names suggest they survived the Lviv pogroms of 1941, but communication ceased in 1942, when they were likely sent to concentration camps, perhaps after the "Great Aktion" (Großaktion) of August 1942 when between 40,000 and 50,000 Jews were deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Belzec.
The music critic Kurt Pahlen called it "a comic opera of the highest sort" and the member of the Académie Française André Roussin adapted the libretto for the French stage.
Besides, the last two [Prinz von Schiras & Polnische Hochzeit] really were not operettas.” Ø 1966: Beer earns a Doctorate in Musicology with Mention Très Honorable et Félicitations du Jury from the Sorbonne under the direction of famed French musicologist Vladimir Jankélévitch.
Ø July 1972: Jankelevitch deems the doctorate to be “the best study […] the most complete and the most rigorous, on Scriabin” and offers to preface a popularized version for the general public to help boost exposure of this outstanding work.
A magical romance populated by lumberjacks and elf-like creatures called Nissen set in rural Norway of the 1930's, this work of genius of colossal proportions is also awaiting a world premiere.
Ø 2007: Emerging Soprano Béatrice Beer, a graduate from the Manhattan School of Music with graduate studies at the Juilliard School, starts to perform her father’s music in concert internationally, in Austria (under the auspices of Orpheus Trust), Germany (Musica Reanimata), in Washington, D.C. (USHMM), New York City, and in the United States at large -- at times in duet with internationally acclaimed Dramatic Baritone Robert McFarland.
Ø 2008: Robert McFarland starts to act as Joseph Beer’s agent and actively promotes him to his colleagues at the top echelon of the classical music world.
Ø January 2010: Joseph Beer’s music experiences the start of a major renaissance, included among others in a sold out concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet featuring the famed Orchestre Pasdeloup under the baton of Maestro David Charles Abell (who has since recorded a CD with Diana Damrau among others.)
Ø November 2015: The world-renowned Munich Radio Orchestra (Münchner Rundfunkorchester) performs and records Joseph Beer’s pre-war “blockbuster” Polnische Hochzeit under the baton of its chief conductor, Leipzig Opera Director Maestro Ulf Schirmer with Chorus from the famed Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz.
Ø Fall 2016: CPO release of the November 2015 Polnische Hochzeit live recording performance featuring the Munich Radio Orchestra, distributed by the Naxos label in the United States.
Ø November 2016-May 2018: The Polnische Hochzeit CPO CD is extensively reviewed at the international level, including by Opera News, Fanfare, Luister (Netherlands) Diapason (France) etc.
Ø Winter 2018/Spring 2019: Joseph Beer’s great youth success Polnische Hochzeit is booked by the prestigious Oper Graz (Austria’s second largest opera house) for a 3-months run starting December 2018.
Ø October 18, 2019: Joseph Beer’s unique work Triptych is premiered in Poland by the Poznań Philharmonic under the baton of star conductor Maestro Łukasz Borowicz in a concert including Prokofiev’s violin sonata performed by Midori.
Soloists: Edyta Piasecka, Anna Bernacka, Wojciech Gierlach, Jacek Ozimkowski, Pavlo Tolstoy, Tomasz Rak; with the Polish Radio Choir and the Beethoven Academy Orchestra under the baton of international conductor Maestro Łukasz Borowicz who is championing Beer’s music.
